If Texas wants to keep interim men’s basketball coach Rodney Terry in the fold, it sounds like it’ll have some competition to retain him.
According to a report from Kirk Bohls of the Austin American-Statesman, Terry is being pursued by both Cal and Penn State for its head coaching vacancies. Bohls reports that Terry was also being considered at Texas Tech, but the Red Raiders have now focused their search on North Texas coach Grant McCasland.
Terry has been the interim coach of the Longhorns since Chris Beard was fired from the school in January for a domestic violence arrest. Terry, who formerly held head coaching positions at Fresno State and UNLV, was named to Beard’s staff as an assistant after he resigned from his post at UNLV after three seasons.
The Longhorns, who kept their season together under Terry despite the chaos surrounding Beard’s dismissal, earned a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament and will face No. 3 seed Xavier in the Sweet 16 on Friday. Despite leading the Longhorns to a Big 12 tournament championship and now into the second weekend of the Big Dance, Texas has been reluctant to take the interim tag off Terry given his head coaching record in the past.
But as Terry takes Texas further and further into the NCAA tournament, it may prove difficult for the university to move in a different direction if it believes there is more upside with another coaching candidate. However, now that the Longhorns have waited so long to make the decision one way or another, other schools have been impressed by Terry’s coaching job this season, and it may prove more difficult to retain him now that there’s potential competition for his services.
